A journey that was not the same

* - Grandmother in Kannada

After the days without Ajji*,
When we left Deshpandenagar
For boarding the train to Hyderabad,
Those loving and caring hands
That always waved at us were missing,
‘Ganga Lahari’ wasn’t the same.

When we moved on the road and took the left turn to the main road, and
While beating that path to the station through the Circuit House
Deshpandenagar wasn’t the same.

The journey to Hubli railway station
Through the Desai cross until the railway station, the
Time came to a standstill and we were not moving.
With hearts heavy and eyes swollen
Our life fallen,
The way to railway station wasn’t the same.

After we reached the railway station, where
On the platform we had walked several times
With Ajji and her cherished companionship,
The Hubli railway station wasn’t the same.

Throughout the journey on the railway tracks,
The train was moving but our souls were moving
Back,
As if the world tumbled, and
Toppled.

We were broken.
The journey to Hyderabad for us was never the same.

Then the train reached Begumpet station,
There were women and children, and men walking on the platforms,
We found them lifeless,
Just as the flowers without fragrance,
Like calves without the cows,
Children without their MOTHERS.
The station wasn’t the same.

The road to our home,
That was brought to eternity by Ajji when moved on it,
Wasn’t the same.

Our home wasn’t the same
When we reached,
As the doors and the walls
Were not echoing Sa Re Ga Ma....

Oh! When I reached my office, and I tried
To open my computer, I was scared!
I felt, as though, my computer would crash,
Or, it wouldn’t open at all
I was numbed and trembled
As I typed the password.....
My fingers on the keyboard would shake uncontrollably
The password ‘ganga’ was keyed in
Without ‘GANGA’ in the world!
My computer wasn’t the same.

- Dharmadasa Barki